A commercial roof is approved by whoever holds the building’s capital budget: the owner or its asset manager on a leased building, the business owner on an owner-occupied one, and a board on a church, school or association — while the property manager and the facilities lead recommend, run the bids and rarely sign. That is the short answer, and it is right most of the time. The rest of this page is the part that changes it: the lease, the size of the job, and the kind of building. A roofer who knows which of the three people they are talking to, and what that person can say yes to, stops losing deals to a “let me run it by the owner” that never comes back.
Three roles, side by side
| Owner or asset manager | Property manager | Facilities lead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works for | The building as an investment | The owner, often through a management firm | The business that occupies the building |
| Says yes to | Capital projects: replacement, recover, major restoration | Repairs and service within a spending limit; who gets to bid | Reporting the problem; small fixes the tenant pays for |
| Cares about | Value, cost over the roof’s life, timing with leases or a sale | Tenant complaints, budgets that hold, vendors who are no trouble | Leaks over equipment, downtime, safety |
| Needs from you | A scope and a life-cycle number they can compare | Paperwork, a fair bid, a report to forward | A fast response and a report that names the problem |
| Your role for them | The contractor who wrote the scope | A vendor on the approved list | The roofer who showed up |
On a big managed building you will meet all three, in the reverse order of their authority. On a small owner-occupied building — a church, an auto shop, a small industrial building, a local store — one person does all three jobs, which is why those buildings close so much faster. How to find each person is covered in how to find the property manager of a commercial building and how to find the owner of a commercial building.
The lease moves the roof
On a leased building, the first question is not who owns the building but who the lease makes responsible for the roof. Lease names are a rough guide at best: two leases both called “triple net” can split the roof completely differently. The common patterns:
| Lease, as commonly written | Repairs and maintenance | Replacement | Who to pitch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross or full-service (typical of offices) | Landlord | Landlord | Property manager, then owner |
| Modified gross | Varies by clause | Usually landlord | Property manager, then owner |
| Triple net, multi-tenant (strip centers) | Landlord does the work, bills tenants their share | Often landlord, sometimes passed through | Property manager, then owner |
| Triple net, single tenant | Tenant | Tenant or landlord, depending on the roof clause | Ask the tenant; it may be them |
| Ground lease | Tenant | Tenant, who owns the building on leased land | The tenant |
These are common patterns, not rules. The roof clause in the actual lease decides, and the tenant usually knows what it says.
That is why the single most useful question for the person who answers the phone at a tenant business is “who takes care of the roof under your lease?” It costs nothing, the tenant almost always knows, and the answer tells you which column of the first table you are selling to.
The job decides the approver too
The same building has different approvers for different work. A leak repair is an operating expense a property manager can approve within their limit. A replacement is a capital project that goes to the owner, and on investor-owned buildings it competes with every other building in the portfolio for this year’s budget. A coating or recover sits in between: cheaper than a tear-off, often still a capital item, and sometimes the sale that fits this year when a replacement does not. Sell each job to the person who can approve it, and use the smaller jobs to earn the larger one: the roofer who did the repairs and wrote the inspection report is usually the one invited to bid the replacement.
Who approves, by kind of building
| Building | Who signs | How long it usually takes |
|---|---|---|
| Owner-occupied small business | The owner, sometimes with their accountant | Weeks |
| Church or nonprofit | Board or trustees, by vote | Until the next meeting, then a vote |
| Local investor, one to a few buildings | The owner, through the manager if there is one | Weeks to a budget season |
| Institutional or large portfolio owner | Asset manager, under a capital plan | A budget cycle; often a national roofing program first |
| Condo or owners’ association | The board; sometimes the members, for a special assessment | Meetings, reserve funds and votes |
| National chain, owned location | Corporate facilities | Through an approved-vendor process |
The first three rows are where a local commercial roofer wins: few layers between the roofer and the signature, no vendor program, and an owner who feels every leak. A church or an auto shop is a small number on an investor’s screen and a real roof to a contractor.
A worked example: one building, three conversations
A 20,000-square-foot single-story building houses two tenants, a flooring showroom and a print shop. The print shop’s manager reports a leak over a press. Here is how the approval moves:
- Facilities. The print shop’s manager tells you the lease puts the roof on the landlord and gives you the management company’s number. They want the leak fixed this week.
- Property manager. Approves a repair within their limit, asks for a certificate of insurance and a W-9, and asks for a written condition report while you are up there.
- Owner. Reads your report, which says the membrane is near the end of its life, and asks the manager for two more bids on a replacement for next year’s budget.
Three conversations, three different people, and only the last one signs the replacement. The roofer who sold the repair as a repair, and the report as the product, is the one whose scope the other two bids get measured against.
The building is a made-up example to show how approval moves, not a real property or account.
Reading who you are talking to
- “I’ll have to run it by the owner.” You are talking to a manager. Ask what the owner needs to see, and offer to put it in writing.
- “Send it over and I’ll put it in the budget.” You are talking to someone with a budget. Ask when the budget is set.
- “Corporate handles that.” A tenant or a branch. Ask who corporate is, by name.
- “The board meets on the second Tuesday.” A church or association. Ask who on the board handles buildings, and to present.
More on the commercial sales cycle around these conversations is in commercial roofing leads, and on getting a direct number for the person who signs in commercial building owner phone numbers. After a storm, the same map runs on a shorter clock: how commercial roofers find decision makers after a hailstorm.
Where Scout Data fits
Scout Data starts from the building and what it needs — a storm that hit it, a roof near the end of its life, no recent work on record, solar on the roof and no storage — and gets you to the person who controls the budget. Each building comes back as an owner dossier: the business inside and whether it owns the building, the entity that owns it, the people who decide with their numbers, and every other parcel they hold. It covers small owner-occupied buildings like churches, auto shops, small industrial and local retail, and it is delivered building by building, with no annual seat. See commercial data, or the commercial research databases compared for tools that research one address at a time.
Frequently asked questions
Who approves a commercial roof replacement?
Whoever holds the building’s capital budget. On a leased building that is the owner or its asset manager; on an owner-occupied building, the business owner; on a church, school or association, the board. The property manager and the facilities lead recommend and run the bids, but rarely sign a replacement alone.
Does the landlord or the tenant pay for a commercial roof?
The lease decides, so read the roof clause. Under many gross and modified gross leases the landlord keeps the roof and structure. Under many triple-net leases the tenant pays for maintenance and repairs, and some single-tenant leases put even the replacement on the tenant. The same word, “net,” covers very different roof clauses.
Should a commercial roofer call the property manager or the owner?
Both, in that order, on a managed building. The property manager controls access, repairs and the bid list; the owner controls the money. Skipping the manager usually gets the call forwarded back to them, and stopping at the manager leaves the replacement unsigned.